


Techatticup Mine

by Rambert



Series: The radicalization of Craig Boone [1]
Category: Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Aggression, American Politics, Anxiety, Arguing, Caesar's Legion, Canon Non-Binary Character, Canon Queer Character, Canon-Typical Violence, Corpses, Desert, Dialogue Heavy, Disguise, Emotionally Repressed, Escape, Explosives, Face Punching, Gritty, Hardcore, Hostage Situations, Independent New Vegas (Fallout), M/M, Macro/Micro, Military Uniforms, Mojave Wasteland (Fallout), NCR | New California Republic, POV First Person, Political Alliances, Post-Apocalypse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-War, Slow Burn, Teamwork, Transphobia, War, i wrote this bc i hate binary quest lines grr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 16:40:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28440288
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rambert/pseuds/Rambert
Summary: Elliott Casey is a former Courier from the Mojave Express. Craig Boone is a former sniper from the NCR. As they travel together through the wasteland, Casey attempts to show Boone that often nuance is the best approach to any situation.
Relationships: Craig Boone/Courier (Fallout), Craig Boone/Non-Binary Courier
Series: The radicalization of Craig Boone [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2085471
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	Techatticup Mine

**Author's Note:**

> Me, trying to write 5 stories at once and finishing none of them: OMG LET'S START A NEW THING I'M INTO FALLOUT NEW VEGAS NOW.  
> All my neglected WIPs: T_T 
> 
> So basically I think it's lazy writing to have Boone unable to be influenced away from shooting Legion on sight / leaving you as soon as you become Shunned or Vilified with the NCR from an action you complete. I want to explore showing his character some depth and his ability to absorb new information from this person who sauntered into his life and finally gave his wife's death closure before demanding better of him as a human being. 
> 
> I literally wrote this all today while listening to the complete Fallout: New Vegas OST so pls be constructive if parts of this read like a rambly tangent -- but I'd still love any and all feedback :D (no transphobia though tysm)

"Hey. Casey."

Boone's deep voice stops me when I notice that according to the map on my Pip Boy, we're coming up to the bend in the road that leads to Nelson. Clearly he's noticed also. I turn from where I'm crouched in the brush to face him.

"If I see any Legionaires, I'm gonna start shooting. Hope that isn't a problem."

"Boone..." I sigh, frustrated.

"We need to forage for supplies. You know that I've tried to avoid taking sides this whole time. I'm not against the NCR but I'm not going to cause a bloodbath on their behalf either, especially when their treatment of locals is little better than Legion."

"You take that back," Boone growls but I ignore him.

"The current President has corrupted their values. Kimball is more loyal to that creepy Mr. House and McCarran and the casinos than NCR soldiers who lay down their lives out here keeping the small towns safe from dangerous mutated wildlife and Legion slavers. Believe it or not I'm trying to help the most people possible."

"Bullshit," Boone says, sneering at me. "You talk a big moral game but you're just a hired merc like me, Case. You helped me kill someone who had nothing to do with you or the NCR."

"Yeah, someone who valued her hotel and comfort more than a human life and sold your wife into slavery knowingly," I reply without hesitation.

"And I'd do it again. But Legion is quickly growing more powerful than the NCR and you know it. You heard that discharged former officer at the 188 didn't you? 'It was a mess out there at the dam, don't let anyone tell you different,' she said."

"We still won," Boone says in a surly tone.

"But at what cost, Boone? How many NCR died that day?"

Boone looks away.

"We cannot just run in guns blazing. Legion _wants_ us to do that," I say. "So you give my way a chance, or we might as well part ways now and save us both some trouble."

"I-- never said I wanted that," Boone interjects awkwardly, clearing his throat.

"I know about going into deep cover, but that's not the same thing as what you're suggesting and you know it Casey," he says shrewdly, his eyes pinning mine again.

I don't look away from his intense gaze. Not for the first time since meeting Boone, I wonder what his brown eyes would look like without those sunglasses on.

"You know that I'm right though," I say quietly, not backing down.

I let silence fall for a moment as the hot dry breeze of the desert afternoon whistles softly around us. Sighing again, I reach up to wipe sweat from my forehead for a moment before continuing.

"I'm still neutral on both sides, and if you lose that beret no one in Legion will know who you are just like I'm unknown to them. But I'm not their ally. We can make a real difference out here if you trust me, Boone. You can use your skills to further the safety of decent humanity if you just put your personal politics aside."

"Hmph."

Finally I relax in relief, knowing this is Boone's way of agreeing with me after more than a week of traveling together.

"So you're okay exploring near Nelson? Even if it means we might encounter Legion?"

In response, Boone takes off his hat and stuffs it into his pack. My eyebrows raise seeing his peach fuzz hair again like I haven't since Novac.

"You're right," he says at last, his low words nearly eaten by the wind.

"I trust you, Casey."

It's been so long since _anyone_ has said those words to me that I nearly shiver, feeling a thrill course through my body. What's wrong with me? I barely manage to hitch up a normal-feeling smile.

"Good. Then let's stop yapping and do some recon."

\--

The heat is _sweltering_ today, and we have nothing to show for hours of time spent carefully covering ground except enough cactus fruits for us to eat at midday to not pass out in the heat. If we weren't so desperate to find some water and ammunition to forage since we're both embarrassingly low on caps and out of work, we wouldn't even be out here. But I haven't traveled this way in a while and I've heard rumors about an old gold mine... even if there's no gold to be had, there might be some clean water dripping in from a groundwater spring or something. Or the water might be radiated, it's kind of a 50/50 shot out here.

My thoughts are interrupted when I see an NCR trooper patrolling on the road that we're traveling to the side of, crouching in the brush for cover.

"Look," I hiss to Boone. "That's definitely friendly, right? Not Legion faking it?"

"That's NCR," he says with noticeable relief, standing up and brushing himself off after putting his beret back on.

I do the same and the trooper notices us, walking over immediately.

"You shouldn't be out here, it's dangerous," the trooper says after introducing himself as Private Reynolds.

Apparently there are a couple of troopers who have been kidnapped and are suspected to be up inside the very mine I was hoping to come across! Techatticup, he says it's called.

It's a very slim chance that these troopers are still alive... Legion doesn't like keeping hostages, choosing rather to inspire fear in their enemy by putting the bodies on display in the most gruesome manner possible. But once Private Reynolds figures out Boone is ex-First Recon suddenly he's all but begging us to check it out with him, saying there's too many Legion for him to go alone, so I gesture for Boone to step aside and chat it over with me.

"We'll have to disguise ourselves," I say in a hushed tone so the Private can't hear me.

"That means sneaking up to the Nelson camp so I can steal armor from their supply barracks. Promise your trigger finger won't get itchy?"

"As long as they don't shoot us I won't shoot them," Boone says in that tight-lipped way of his that I'm growing to appreciate.

At least he's succinct.

"Good," I say, smiling at him. "Then let's do this. Take off your hat and follow my lead."

My smile widens to a grin when Boone does what I ask without hesitation.

I instruct Private Reynolds to wait for our return while we go steal some Legion armor to disguise ourselves in.

"Why would we need that if we're going to take them out?" he asks, and I grimace.

"You really think they'll keep the hostages alive if we start shooting? This is your squad mates' best chance at surviving," I say, and he sighs in defeat.

"All right, all right. Just be back fast, it'll be dark soon."

He's right, I unfortunately note, as the sun is already starting to sink into the horizon.

\--

Nelson is a town that Legion has recently taken over, and the stink of death is still upon it. I try not to gag as we draw close and can still see piles of carnage from Legion land mines. In the desert heat, the buzzing from flies is unbearable when they flock to the desiccating carcasses that are interspersed through the rubble.

"This is a mess too Casey," Boone grumblingly points out, and I say nothing as my jaw clenches.

He's right, of course, but I'm focusing on the task at hand. We can debate dialectics later.

My Pip Boy shows me where the humans are grouping thanks to its thermal sensors, and so I head towards the back fence by an empty tent. Thanks to my improvement on ED-E's motors and the military training Boone and I have, we move silently around the perimeter of the camp and are undetected by the Legionaires.

Amazingly, there's only one mine in the way and I get close enough to disarm it, though for a breathless moment I wonder-- as I always do with enemy explosives-- if that daring move will be my last.

But I manage to turn it off before it explodes, putting it in my pack as I draw close to the back flap of the tent.

Looking around to make sure no one is watching us, I give my hand signal command to ED-E to "Wait here", then lift the tent flap for Boone to go in first. He goes without hesitation, knowing my Pip Boy would warn me if it wasn't safe. He'd been a little leery of my vault tech at first, having never lived in one himself, but now he's starting to rely on it same as I do.

"Jackpot," I whisper as I find a footlocker box containing four Legionary armor sets-- it's not even locked!

Checking my Pip Boy again to make sure no one is approaching the tent, I take off my pack and start to put my armor into it as I change into the Legion kilt and chestplate.

Boone hesitates only for a moment before doing the same, and for an awkward minute we both strategically avoid looking at each other. We've seen each other naked before but never for long, and it's never something we've addressed verbally.

My travel companion knows that I'm not a cis man like he is; when he attempted to make a joke about "not knowing whether someone's a man or a woman half the time out here" on our first day together, I replied in a clipped voice that I'm a non-binary trans man who prefers to be referred to by 'they' just as much or more than 'he'.

Boone had apologized immediately and hasn't said anything rude like that since. It's why I've kept him around. But I can't shake the feeling that he feels more uncomfortable around me than he would around a cis guy and it infuriates me in the seething, simmering way that stubborn cishet men always do.

But at least Boone isn't hostile to me despite being seemingly cishet, an unfortunate rarity for a queer like me out in the violent wasteland.  
So I'll take what little respite in humanity I can find at this point.

By the time I'm done with my musing we're changed and ready to go. I still advise us to sneak back the way we came, since Nelson is a small enough fort that they probably know all the legionary soldiers here by name. But out at the mine, they won't be able to know for sure where we've been sent from.

When the three of us return to Private Reynolds I give him the third legionary armor set that I lifted from the tent.

"I'm not putting on that foul thing," he says with disdain, but Boone growls.

"If I have to, you have to, Private. It's the only way we're gonna save these hostages. Right Casey?"

"Right," I say, glad that Boone's backing me up-- it's pretty adorable actually, not that I'd tell him that now though.

I press the uniform into the Private's hands despite the dubious look on the soldier's face.

"Ugh, it stinks of blood and rubber tire smoke," he says in disgust, but takes it over to a clump of tall bushes to reluctantly change.

When he's done, the three of us really do look like legionaries. It's not a flattering or powerful look.

"All right ED-E, you have to wait here," I say with regret, hoping my Eyebot will be safe out here unattended.

ED-E beeps in recognition of the wait command, hovering in one spot behind a large boulder until I speak the "stay close" command again. Last but not least I take off my Pip Boy, though I feel strangely light without it, and put it under where the Eyebot is floating. As a neutral a Pip Boy raises no eyebrows but if I'm wanting to pass off as actual Legion, I can't have it with me. And now we're finally ready to confront Techatticup mine.

"Follow my lead, Private, let me do the talking," I say as we approach-- walking tall, as if we're meant to be there.

This is the hardest part... believing my own lies. But I've had many years to perfect this sort of deception and I'm quite good at it now.

"Ave, true to Caesar," I call out in the Legion's somber greeting as we approach two soldiers patrolling outside the mine's entrance, making careful note to pronounce Caesar as 'Kai-sahr' not 'See-zur' as the Pre-War tapes would say.

"Halt, and state the message from your commanding officer," one of the Veteran Legionaries directs at us.

"You are wearing low-level legionary armor so you must be messengers, but why are there three of you? You aren't from Nelson," another wearing a feathered cap and goggles says suspiciously, and I have to fight down the instinct to panic as I recognize the Decanus uniform.

"No, we aren't," I say coolly as I fold my arms as if irritated.

"We've been sent from the Fort to inspect the mine for any change in the situation and report back immediately," I say in a stern voice.

"Has it improved?" I ask sharply, and to my delight my bluff works: I watch the color drain slowly away from the legionaries' faces.

"Well y-yes, of course, we're monitoring it day by day now, and we've captured two NCR troopers so we can--"

"Shut up you ingrate, what if they're lying!" says the Decanus, and I gulp internally-- we're not in yet.

"Do you doubt our loyalty to Caesar, prime Decanus?" I say in a seething tone, letting all my frustration at Boone and Private Reynolds and all the rest of the feckless NCR soldiers come out into a bitterness that's all too genuine.

"I don't think he'd be pleased to hear that the situation at the mine continues to deteriorate because of _negligence_. Nelson is a valued asset we cannot lose again in this NCR wasteland and Caesar desires a status report on the mine before deciding what to do about Forlorn Hope," I say swiftly as if reciting information I am in too much haste to deliver.

It works. The Decanus frowns and looks me up and down, but steps aside.

"True to Caesar," they mutter as we walk past.

I can feel the Private's and Boone's eyes on me, boring into me and searching for answers or direction. But I told them to trust and follow me, so we'll see how well they do that.

We encounter no more resistance on our way in; due to our garb, everyone greets us on sight with the customary Legion phrase as we wander deeper into the mountain mine. It gets darker and darker, to the point where I sorely miss the flashlight on my Pip Boy.

Then as we descend I'm shocked to discover that the reason this mine isn't more heavily guarded is because there's toxic waste barrels-- dozens of them. If I'd had my Pip Boy, the radiation readings would be spiking. Several of the barrels are leaking and the glowing ooze sheds more green light than the cave mushrooms that grow all around the mine. Suddenly the close, musty air makes me gag and I have to close my eyes for a moment as I touch the wall to steady myself and take a slow, deep breath through my nose.

 _Close your mouth, Elliott, breathing through your mouth is how you panic_ , I have to remind myself. _Breathe through your nose._

So the Legion is just guarding a place full of toxic radiation, simply to stop the NCR from taking it and possibly mining for gold?? I cannot believe anyone would be this petty with their own soldiers' lives, but Legion outdoes the NCR in this category at nearly every turn. These poor bastards don't even know how sick they're going to get from being in here... because none of them have Pip Boys to warn them of the radiation poisoning, and they won't physically feel it until it's too late to reverse the damage.

But these 'poor bastards' are still Legion, choosing a path of unnecessary and gratuitous violence, and I've made a promise to help some lives already today. I pull out some Rad-X and pop a dose, swallowing the pills and handing the bottle over to Boone.

"Take two and give two to the Private," I whisper as we're out of earshot of the legionaries. "It's radiated as hell in here."

Boone nods silently and takes the medication and the water that I hand over once I've taken down my pills with a few precious swallows. It's our last bottle but I'd rather find more water than deal with fallout damage later. As I'm waiting for them to do the same, I finally notice where the NCR hostages are-- behind a locked chain link fence gate that's been installed into the rock wall. How long did it take to do this, I wonder? Was this part of the original mine? Is there even good ventilation down here minus the radiation? I'm getting distracted again.

"I need you two to go and ask the legionaries over there questions about the toxic waste, as if you're trying to get them to organize a clean-up," I say in an undertone to Private Reynolds and Boone.

"Take as long as you can and don't let them come this way. I'm going to get the troopers out."

They nod and walk over to the nearest legionaries around the corner as I pull out some bobby pins from my pocket and set on picking the lock.

"Who are you? What are you doing?" one of the NCR troopers asks, sounding nervous.

"Shh. I'm here to rescue you," I say tersely, breaking a pin in my haste-- shit!!

I want to cuss, but I need to stay quiet. Ripping the broken bobby pin out and tossing it aside, I try with the next one.

"What did he say?" the nervous trooper asks his companion.

"He said _shh_ ," the other one says urgently, "He's helping us. Look he's picking the lock."

"What if it's a trap? He's wearing Legion armor."

Luckily by this point I've gotten the gate open and have placed my hand, gently but firmly, over the chatty nervous trooper's pale mouth.

"Please be quiet and I promise you will get out of here alive. Nod if you understand."

The trooper nods, and I let go and focus on untying them. Down the hall I hear the conversation pitching up a bit; I have to take a deep breath to stop my fingers from shaking in fear.

"What do you mean, 'who's going to clean this up?' If Caesar wanted to get it cleaned up faster then you must be the ones he sent to do it!"

"We are supposed to report back on the situation," Private Reynolds tries but gets cut off.

"Only takes one of you to send a message back," one of the legionaries says cruelly. "The other two can stay here, can't they? I don't see why Caesar would be unhappy with that."

"Uh, well..."

"I don't see why Caesar would be unhappy with me bashing your ugly face in for doing a piss-poor job here."

"Is that a threat?!"

"N-no, nobody's threatening anyone! Let's calm down here men!"

Oh hells, they're floundering bad out there and I'm still untying the second hostage. I rip off the ropes so fast that the NCR trooper hisses softly from rope burn, and I feel a little bad but mostly petrified that we're all going to die in here if we don't get _out_ soon.

Saying the first thing I can think of to diffuse the situation, I cry out "The hostages-- they've escaped!" and run past the bewildered NCR troopers to the front of the cage.

"Hide," I hiss to them before turning to face the legionaries as they run up to the open cage.

"They're gone, the hostages are gone!" I wail loudly, hoping to cover up any noises of movement from the troopers as I let the two legionaries get close.

"Pipe down, which way did they go?" the legionaries say, trying to look past me into the cage.

Instead of answering, I punch the first one as hard as I can in the face, pulling the slumping now-unconscious body towards me to shield myself as the other one yells in surprise.

Then Boone's clasped fists come down on the back of the legionary's head, and that one is also now unconscious.

"Let's tie them up and make them look like the hostages," I gasp, and thankfully Private Reynolds and the level-headed NCR trooper don't waste any time helping me and Boone do just that.

"We've got company, I hear footsteps coming," the nervous NCR trooper says as two more legionaries round the corner.

"Take them out but don't kill them," I whisper urgently. "They'll come looking for you if you do."

For vengeance is but a game to the Legion; to them a life taken is worth vengeance repaid tenfold. They are _always_ upping the ante in some hideous manner, and I don't want to find out what Nelson can do just yet if we can help it.

"What are you soldiers doing down here? Speaking with the hostages is not allowed--"

It's the legionaries who had been patrolling the cave entrance. The suspicious Decanus, and the one who had looked more afraid of me. Now they're both looking furious.

"There _was_ no envoy from the Fort was there-- it's profligates from the NCR! Seize them!" the Decanus cries, but now it's five against two and they don't realize that until it's too late.

After knocking them out, the NCR troopers drag their bodies to the shadows in the corner of the cage so that they're barely visible in the dim glow of the cave mushrooms. While they're doing that, I notice with excitement that there's a storage shelf in here with several clean water bottles. Water, at last! I quickly load them all into my pack, thankful that we at least found _something_ worth foraging today besides stinky Legion armor.

"Okay we're gonna get out of here now," I say impatiently as I lock the cage behind us and we begin our ascent. "But don't walk _too_ quickly. We're just changing the front door guard shift, that's all."

The legionary groups positioned throughout the cave tunnels greet us one by one again, not seeming to think it odd that two groups have passed them by on the way in and only one is returning out. We reach the door without incident, and I say disinterestedly to the last legionary we see that we'll be taking the outside shift for a few hours.

"True to Caesar," they say, and I return the phrase as we exit into the star-filled twilight.

It isn't until we're back where I left ED-E and my Pip-Boy that the intense shaking in my body subsides to a mere nausea instead. I sink to the ground, because my legs have gone to jelly and I can no longer support myself.

"You really did it kid," Private Reynolds says in amazement as he claps his squad mates on the back.

"Kid? I'm over thirty," I say in a daze, noticing that Boone looks at me in surprise when I say that.

"Whatever man. My squad is alive thanks to you two. How can we ever repay you?"

"Just try not to escalate things between Camp Forlorn Hope and Nelson, maybe don't go taking tiny recon groups by fortified mines," Boone says without bothering to conceal his condescension.

"Point taken," the nervous NCR trooper says while raising their hands in an 'I surrender' motion. "It was a bad idea, and now we'll know not to underestimate Legion. We'll work on clearing that minefield instead."

After a few more minutes of chatter the NCR troopers and Private Reynolds part ways with us, heading back to Camp Forlorn Hope up to the North. I'm still frozen in place, feeling numb as the words wash over me without me really hearing a single one. Decompressing is what I tell myself I'm doing, but it's more like dissociating.

Eventually my name, repeated softly in Boone's deep baritone, surfaces through the whine of my tinnitus.

"Case? Casey?"

I startle, making some sort of "huh" noise and feeling drool nearly leaking from the corner of my mouth. I swallow, and my throat hurts from not having done it for too long.

"You okay?" Boone asks, looking concerned-- at least I'd like to think that right now, but those damn sunglasses make it so difficult to read his expression.

"Yeah," I lie, standing up and wincing as my legs burn with the intense pins-and-needles sensation.

"Just... tired. And want to get out of this," I say with disgust as I pluck at the Legion uniform.

"Agreed," Boone says, and we quickly change out of the armor and back into our regular gear.

I almost just want to ditch it because it smells so foul, but I don't know when I'd get another chance to steal some that easily. And ED-E has a storage compartment just big enough for something like this. So we keep them for now, though Boone gives me a look which I ignore.

"So we didn't get any rations today huh," he sighs, but arches an eyebrow when I chuckle.

"Well not food, but look," I say, showing off the water.

"When did you get that?" Boone asks in wonderment, taking one immediately.

"Oh, just back when you and your NCR buddies were dealing with those last bodies," I say casually as I open my own to take a long drink from.

The involuntary gasp of refreshment that Boone lets out after glugging down half his water is making me think very inappropriate thoughts. I clear my throat and shake my head a little in a vain effort to dispel them. What can I say, he's an attractive man at the end of the day and it's been a _long_ time since my gay ass got any. But Boone seems straight as the rod he's got in that inflexible spine of his, so I keep my thoughts to myself.

When we've made camp for the night up in the mountain ridges, watching a tiny fire sputter in the barely-cooled breeze, Boone finally speaks his mind about what just happened.

"I'd be lying if I said I wasn't shocked to see this new side of you today, Casey."

"Mm?" I'm too tired to actually phrase a question, already feeling myself drifting off where I'm sitting.

My Pip Boy says there's nothing around, and the fire is so cozy. Weariness drags at my bones, but I'm enjoying listening to the sweet glass-like tinkling of the hot fire.

"Pretending to be in Legion like that, the way you talked to them... like you really knew what you were talking about. Like you were actually one of them. I didn't think you could do that," Boone says, and I know he's being honest.

"Hmm." If I weren't so sleepy I'd laugh, but it just comes out an amused hum instead.

"So is this what you're gonna keep doing then, this double agent, both-sides shit?"

I don't answer. Why would I state the obvious? My companion is smart enough to figure this out on his own.

"Casey."

I turn my face away from him and he lets out a noise that's almost a growl-- or is that just what I want it to be?

"Case."

" _What_ , Boone," I say wearily. "I told you I was tired, so if you've got something to say quit beating around the bush and say it already."

"Jesus," Boone mutters, "You don't have to bite my head off. I'm trying to compliment you."

"You're not doing a good job," I say flatly.

"...You're right. ...Sorry," he says, letting silence fall for a while before speaking again.

"When Private Reynolds was flapping his gums in there, I really realized how lucky I am to know someone like you," he finishes quietly, and when I look up at him Boone is holding his beret in his hands.

"...I don't... think I need this any more," he says slowly. "If I'm going to travel with you, this would just be a danger to us both."

"Are you sure?" I ask, trying to see his face in the firelight. "I don't want you to feel like you're losing a part of your identity or erasing your past."

"It's just a hat," Boone says, still speaking slowly as he kneels on the ground and begins to dig with his big bare hands in the loose mountain gravel.

"You really did it, Casey. You said you were going to save those hostages and you did. I've never... been around someone who didn't use eighteen layers of logic to justify their cowardly behavior, to deflect to their COs or backwards policy loopholes instead of doing anything themselves-- the way that Private Reynolds did. Hell, even I did that when I served. I never questioned anything the NCR did til Carla was kidnapped and they ignored my pleas to help get her back. Then I realized it's all a bunch of bullshit and that they don't care about protecting any of us who served them."

"Yeah," I say quietly, watching Boone dig his hat a hole and bury it.

"I meant it when I said I want to save lives, Boone. If you trust me, I promise that's my only goal. I want to take Caesar down just as badly as you do-- believe that."

"I do." And the look that Boone gives me following those words is so intense that I swallow hard.

If he doesn't stop fixing me with these sorts of glances, I'm going to melt in the heat of them.

**Author's Note:**

> I definitely have more ideas of where to go with this for future parts of a series, but your suggestions and feedback are so appreciated! Thank you for reading~


End file.
